Hearing Loss Awareness Week

In Case you missed it, yesterday was Independence Day. A day that John Adams thought should be remembered with "Pomp and Parade, Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other." Of Course, When he said that he apparently thought that the date would be the 2nd of July, not the 4th.

For those of us in the Southeastern United States, inthe middle of a pretty bad drought, we took it easy on the "Bonfires and Illuminations", but Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, and "Shews" were all still on, and of course, It wouldn't be The Fourth without some "Pomp and Parade".

("Shews" is just old-fashioned-ese for "Shows", and has nothing to do with footwear. Unless the shows are about footwear... But I Digress)

I talked a little about Small Town Parades in a previous Post, but I had forgotten a few things. Mostly the beginning of the parade, which no-one enjoys, but no one wants to do anything about for fear of looking un-patriotic, or disagreeable.

The Beginning of the parade in Small-Town America features every Emergency Vehicle the town has, with ALL the sirens running Simultaneously, right next to the sidewalk, at 2 1/2 Miles per Hour. Now, I don't know much about hearing loss, but I have a pretty good hunch that this is not a good, healthy thing to do. In some small towns, (Mine for instance) youcan replace the above phrase "Every Emergency Vehicle the town has", with "every Emergency Vehicle in the surrounding FIVE towns". Add in the fireworks from that night, and it's a wonder anybody can hear anything on the fifth of July.

So I propose that the last week in June be National Hearing Loss Prevention Awareness Week, and Earplugs be widely distributed in anticipation of the NoiseFest to come. Or MAYBE, just maybe we could only let one or two vehicles run their sirens. But I don't want to be un-patriotic, or disagreeable.

Hopefully I will be expanding this post later in the day, but I gotta go shop for groceries now.